Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Director: Pierre Foldes
16 June 2023
See
Him: An animated adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s writing, I’m in for any after Drive My Car, which inspired the name of this blog. This time it’s set in Tokyo after a tsunami, a salaryman doesn’t know what to do about his catatonic wife watching 24 hour news coverage on the aftermath of the disaster. His colleague, a middle-aged downtrodden bureaucrat who starts seeing a giant frog.
Her: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is an animated film directed by Pierre Foldes and based on a book by Haruki Murakami. It’s a reflection on the post-earthquake expdriences of a few people living in tokyo, narrated in a style which seems to be very true to Murakami’s own.
Think
Him: There’s something about Japanese fables that makes sense in the Japanese language with the willing suspension of disbelief that jars more when spoken in English, as this film was. I do like how Murakami’s stories are separate threads that weave together. What happened to the wife and her cat; how will the husband handle her departure – by going on his own trip of rediscovery. But perhaps the most absurd because it lacked signature subtlety was the sad longley man fearing he will be fired, suffering a psychotic break and seeing Mr Frog, who needs his help to save Tokyo from a giant worm under the city which will cause an earthquake.
Her: Think and reflect is what Murakami’s stories prompt the audience to do. The unharried pace of narration, characters reflection on their life experiences, accidental encounters and, of course, a touch of magic – similarly to Drive My Car, I think that this film is perceived very differently by each and every person watching it based on their own experience.
Feel
Him: Just like Murakami’s books take the characters and reader on a literal journey to handle emotional turmoil by physical movement, so are you rewarded when watching this film and how it gently guides you to follow and believe that it’ll all work out. For the wife’s new life, the husband moving on from her departure and openness to new possibilities that can fill him up against her accusation of his emptiness. Which seemed more a projection of her own insecurity, and the exposition of the death of their mutual friend. Then there’s the apparatchik’s need to feel needed but not handling the pressure and yet somehow still surviving through his silent suffering. Can’t say the same for Mr. Frog.
Her: Again, similarly to the Drive My Car experience, I felt like watching this film is therapeutic. And though I did not connect with it as much as with the first one, I do want to rewatch it and understand the story of a woman (the wife) a bit better, especially when she was retelling her story and the day that changed her life. Either I didn’t get it or it’s just not my story.